


Our Beautiful Time (It's only you)

by sunsethue



Series: April child Lee Jeno [4]
Category: NCT (Band), WAYV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 16:24:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18641758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsethue/pseuds/sunsethue
Summary: Jeno never expected to see Yukhei again. In fact, he never wanted to see him again. But life is full of surprises and maybe they both deserve second chances.





	Our Beautiful Time (It's only you)

To say that Jeno is stressed out is an understatement. He’s rushing around the mall with big shopping bags filled with random stuff from the hardware stores and crafts store. All these items should not be purchased last minute and they usually place orders for raw materials online really early but their usual supplier completely missed their transaction, cancelled it way too late and now Jeno and his team need to purchase their materials on the spot, and make the decorations by hand with only two days left until the event.

Jeno and his friends run a small event planning company. Their services include planning and arranging the logistics of an event, coordinating suppliers, decorating and fixing the set up in the venue, staffing during event day, and post-event clean up. 

They’ve only mostly done a few birthdays, two weddings, and two company anniversaries. Through the word of mouth and Jaemin’s marketing skills, and because of their genius concepts with minimal costs, mostly care of Renjun’s creativity and Jeno’s budgeting prowess, Neo Dream Incorporated was able to build a steady clientele in the past two years.

Their current client is a new one, but was highly referred by one of their frequent customers. If they blew this up, they might just lose two customers at once. 

The event is a simple one. It’s a birthday party for a child turning one and the theme was supposed to be a forest. Their favorite florist has assured them delivery of the necessary materials they need to put up the willowy trees and arcs with twigs and flowers so they don’t have any issues with the main set-up. The last minute problem are the table and stage decors. 

So Jeno had to shop fast in the biggest mall nearby to secure the materials they need for Renjun’s design. It’s a good thing the mall has a big crafts store and multiple hardware stores so Jeno was able to purchase everything Renjun required. He’d endure having to lug the bags around the mall, as long he doesn’t miss a single item in Renjun’s list. 

But he’s stressed out, both by their looming deadline and possibly facing over-budget. He’s tired, his arms ache, and he’s not looking forward to the sleepless nights they have to sacrifice in order to finish the decors. 

The last thing he needs right now is to bump into his ex-boyfriend, looking all perfect and handsome. 

Wong Yukhei, Jeno’s ex-boyfriend. 

Wong Yukhei, who Jeno dated for a year during their last year in college.

Wong Yukhei, who broke his heart and yet had the audacity to ask if they could be friends. Which of course Jeno refused, because he is stubborn like that.

It was so easy to cut off Yukhei from his life, especially when they were worlds apart. Yukhei was popular, came from a prominent family, and had big things going his way. Jeno never really belonged to his world and they both had to make big sacrifices to make their one-year relationship work. 

Seeing Yukhei again now, more than two years after their break up, smiling so happily at him while he is having one of the worst days of his life, revives the rage Jeno felt before.

“Hey Jeno,” Yukhei greets in the same polite and warm way he did back when they first met. Not ready for a grand reunion or small talk, Jeno simply nodded at Yukhei then moved to the side to walk away from him.

But of course Yukhei is not the type of person who would be contented with a bobbing of head as a greeting so he rushes to follow Jeno on his way out.

“Hey, Jen,” Yukhei calls out again brisk walking next to Jeno. “I can clearly see you are busy. Do you need help with those bags?”

“No, it’s okay,” Jeno says, going straight to the parking lot of the mall.

“Come on, let me carry some for you and maybe we can talk? Catch up?” 

Jeno ignores the tall boy, saving his breath and energy to rush to his car.

“How are you?” Yukhei says, his voice still filled with that optimism that Jeno can easily recognize despite not talking to the other boy for years.

This sends Jeno fuming. He stops walking and faces Yukhei. “Look, it’s nice seeing you again. Okay, maybe not really. But I’m very busy now and I’m really not keen to catch up with you or something. So let’s just forget about we saw each other again?” 

But Yukhei is not looking at Jeno anymore. Instead he’s staring at a red car a few meters away from them.

“You still drive Busty!” Yukhei exclaims, smiling widely at Jeno’s red Jeep. 

Jeno’s eyes grow in shock. “Don’t say my car’s name!” he snaps.

Yukhei laughs, raising his both arms as a form of surrender. “I just missed Busty. And don’t worry, I heard you. We’re not friends. You still hate me. But that doesn’t change the fact that I missed you and seeing you today really made me so happy.”

Jeno hates the effect of Yukhei’s words to him. He is blushing now, he just knows it.

“If we see each other again by chance,” Yukhei says, “is it okay to approach you and try to be your friend again?”

The way Yukhei asked his question was full of hope and plead. Jeno is still angry but in his head he consider this meet-up a fluke. Maybe it will be another two years before they see each other again. Maybe by that time Jeno is not angry anymore. He considers this with optimism, probably an effect of Yukhei’s positivity. So he nods. “Yeah, we’ll see,” Jeno says before turning around and finally walking towards his car. 

“Take care Jen!”

Jeno hears Yukhei shout. He dumps all his bags as fast as he can, starts his car and drives away. He doesn’t even spare Yukhei another glance. He doesn’t want to think about Yukhei, at least maybe for another two years

*

Jeno didn’t manage to tell his friends about the mall encounter until after a week later. They were very busy with work and Jeno was hoping he would completely forget it after a few days. 

But Jeno’s worst fear was confirmed when, seven days later, he still thinks about Yukhei. 

He releases a big sigh and this catches Renjun and Jaemin’s attention.

“Hey Jeno, you okay?” Jaemin asks. Jeno was seated alone in their couch, surfing through channels, while his two friends are preparing their dinner.

When Jeno didn’t reply, the two also sat on the couch, one on each of Jeno’s side.

Jeno rested his head on Renjun’s shoulder and sighs again as Jaemin plays with Jeno’s hair.

“I saw Yukhei last week,” he says quietly. “It was a short encounter, don’t worry. It’s just really weird. It made me feel weird inside.”

Renjun and Jaemin didn’t say anything yet, but Jeno can feel their bodies go still.

“I thought I’d be over him by now. And maybe I don’t love him like before anymore. But he still holds so much power on me.”

Yukhei is not Jeno’s first boyfriend nor was he his longest relationship. Jeno has dated other people too, after college. The only difference is that when Jeno and Yukhei broke up, Jeno was still very much in love with him. And he realized now that it never went away.

They didn’t have the most ideal relationship. Yukhei had so many roles to play -- the perfect son, the best student, the captain of his team, the promising lawyer. Being Jeno’s boyfriend often took a backseat to these priorities. But it was never an issue to Jeno, because Yukhei loved him and he loved Yukhei back. They fought for their relationship and really tried their best to make it work. Jeno was still in love with him, still believed in him, when Yukhei broke his heart.

Renjun and Jaemin know this. “The messiest break up ever,” Renjun used to describe the split. “There wasn’t even a closure. You simply chose to cut ties with each other and went on with your lives.”

They envelope Jeno in a tight hug, Jaemin whispering comforting words while Renjun says not to worry, they’ll make sure Yukhei will never be able to approach him again.

“But that’s the thing,” Jeno says, freeing himself from his friends’ hugs. “I want to get over him. I want to move on properly.”

“Are you saying you want to meet him for closure or something?” Renjun asks.

“No,” Jeno says. “It doesn’t have to be to that extent. I just… I just want to be able to think of him freely so I can accept what went wrong between us instead of suppressing it and turning it into anger.”

“I think that would be great. You didn’t even really talk about the break up to us other than tell us the reason and make us delete Yukhei from our contact list,” Jaemin says. “It may be two years late but if you need drinking sessions to reassess the break up we are always here for you.”

“I can give you a dart board with Yukhei’s photo too to ease some tension,” Renjun says.

This makes Jeno laugh. Two years ago, his definition of moving on was pretending Yukhei never happened. It was cowardly, but the only option his pride can take at that time. 

He wants to believe he is better now.

When a realization hits him, Jeno groans loudly.

“Why why why” Jaemin asks.

“I just realized how tired and stressed out I looked when we met last week,” Jeno whines. “Why can’t the universe be nice that I get to see my ex when I look at the very least presentable.”

Renjun laughs and Jaemin shakes his head. “This was when you were at the mall right?” the younger asks. “Yeah you were wearing that ugly brown shirt you had since college.”

“But I remember you were also wearing that new black jeans we bought two months ago,” Renjun says. “The one that makes your butt more flattering. So it’s still a win.”

*

When Jeno thought it would take another two years before he meets Yukhei again, he really hoped it would take another two years.

And yet here he is, a few months later, facing Yukhei once again, in the place he least expected to.

“Are you getting married?” Jeno asks straight to the point. Jaemin left a note this morning that Jeno is supposed be meeting a new client today for some basic paperwork and planning of schedule and budget. Jaemin scribbled “wedding” and now Yukhei is in front of him, so Jeno can only infer that Yukhei is getting married.

“What? No!” Yukhei denies. “I’m only here as a best man. Do you work here?”

Jeno doesn’t know why he felt relieved by Yukhei’s answer. In the past weeks, Jeno allowed himself to think freely about Yukhei. He thought about the break up, drank with Renjun and Jaemin one night, stalked Yukhei’s social media account, and felt freer than ever in the past two years.

He reviewed the things he loved before about Yukhei and discovered interesting, new things about him too. It also became clearer to Jeno why they didn’t work out at that time and he’s perfectly okay with his choices now.

Still, Yukhei is in front of him now and he doesn’t know what to do. 

“Okay… but why are you here? Where are the couple getting married?” Jeno asks.

“Mark will be a bit late. You remember him?” Yukhei asks, a bit self-consciously.

“Oh! Mark Lee? Your best friend?” 

“Yeah. He and Donghyuck are actually your clients. But Hyuck is overseas now for emergency work and he told Mark to start the preparations. You know how helpless Mark is with this stuff so he forced me to come help him… you know as the best man.”

Jeno nods, recalling fondly about the few encounters he had with Mark and Donghyuck. From what he remembers, they’ve been together since high school. Mark is clumsy and laughs loudly, kind of like Yukhei. Donghyuck, on the other hand, is witty and always saves Mark’s ass. They don’t know each other well but Jeno has double dated with them once when he and Yukhei were still together.

“I think it’s best if we wait for Mark then since it is his wedding,” Jeno says, shuffling the documents on his desk as an excuse to do something.

“Hey Jen,” Yukhei says. “I really didn’t know you work here. Will you be okay, I don’t know, with me here?”

Jeno can feel his face heating up with the intense way Yukhei stares at him. “That won’t be a problem. This is work, we are professionals.” 

“And does the offer still stand? Of us possibly being friends?” Yukhei asks.

Yukhei’s question reminds Jeno of the first time they met, back in college. It was Yukhei who first introduced himself, worming himself in Jeno’s life. They were never really friends at any point because Yukhei had been honest from the beginning that he liked Jeno. And while there were hearts broken along the way, Jeno thinks he doesn’t want to turn down Yukhei this time. Because he wants to try this, being friends with Yukhei.

“Sure, let’s be friends.”


End file.
